Egyptian authorities have flat-out rejected requests by an international humanitarian aid convoy dubbed “The Road To Hope” to cross through Egypt to Gaza by land, exclusive sources told the PIC, adding that efforts are being made for the convoy to change its course by sea from the Libyan Benghazi port to the Egyptian city of El Arish.

The sources mentioned Saturday morning that the convoy has been held up for more than eight days on the Libyan-Egyptian border. Egyptian authorities have refused to let the convoy enter by land.

Hundreds of participants joined the convoy after Libyan air lines offered a special discount of up to 50 per cent for participants arriving by air.

“Road to Hope” arrived at Libya from England Friday night en route to Gaza. Several important Libyan officials received the convoy upon its arrival.

The Libyan News Agency said Friday a public celebration was held the previous night to mark the convoy’s arrival at the Al Batnan area in eastern Libya.

Led by known rights activist Kevin O’Keefe, the convoy carries 300 Arab and European activists and 160 cars on board.

Top Egyptian officials informed Palestinian authorities in Ramallah that Israel has its sights set on launching a military strike on the Gaza Strip by the end of 2010, political analyst Mustafa Al Sawaf said, adding that Cairo has placed conditions to hinder agreement between Palestinian factions on security issues.

Sawaf told the PIC Saturday that he was informed by sources who accompanied a visit by Egyptian officials to the PA headquarters in Ramallah last Thursday that Egyptian intelligence minister Omar Sulaiman told Abbas that Netanyahu’s security consultant, who visited Cairo a few days back, informed Egypt that Israel will carry out a military strike on the Gaza Strip before the year’s end.

Quoting informed sources, Sawaf said Omar Sulaiman told Abbas that Netanyahu’s consultant said the Israeli government was not content with Hamas’s growing military strength or with humanitarian aid convoys allowed to be sent to the Gaza Strip through Egypt.

Sawaf speculated that the Egyptian government may tighten its blockade on the Gaza Strip by denying the passage of aid convoys and sympathizers and monitoring borders to stop the import of weapons to Gaza.

Sawaf said that Cairo imposed conditions on Fatah negotiators before going to meet with Hamas in Damascus to discuss security issues mainly not to accept that Hamas cadres would assume command of any security forces in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, but the Egyptian regime did not object to Hamas members acting as elements of such security forces.

Hamas would not agree to such conditions, the political analyst asserted, which means that a reconciliation relied on by the Palestinian people would not be achieved.

“We’re not talking about this to undermine Egypt, as Egypt is too big to be undermined, but we put these matters out there now so the picture becomes clear to everyone, and to reveal the nature of the [Egyptian] regime, which works to materialize the interests of Israel and America at the expense of the interests of the Palestinian people,” the writer went on to say.

Let us internalize some of the axiomatic strategic facts pertaining to the state-of-affair facing Arabs and Muslims in this region and beyond:

The first fact is that the hundreds of nuclear heads and bombs which Israel possesses or is widely assumed to possess are not trained toward Zimbabwe or Gabon or Haiti, but at Cairo, Beirut, Damascus, Tehran or perhaps Makkah and Medina.

The second fact is that the acquisition by Israel of a nuclear capability is aimed at subjugating, bullying and keeping the Arab world in a state of perpetual strategic inferiority vis-à-vis the Hebrew state. A nuclear Israel, undeterred by any reciprocal Arab deterrence, will allow Israel to commit the unthinkable, e.g. deport the remaining Palestinians from their ancestral homeland. It could also allow Israel to make ultimatums to countries such as Egypt, e.g. threatening to destroy strategic Egyptian targets such as the High Dam if the Arab country of 80 millions doesn't behave the Israeli way.

We recently saw how the docile Egyptian leadership was forced to play the harlot vis-à-vis a visibly haughty Israel during the recent genocidal Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. Had Egypt had a strategic deterrent, it would have displayed a semblance of national dignity and said "No" to Israeli threats, implicit or explicit.

The third fact is that the American-controlled regime of nuclear nonproliferation is a farrago of nonsense. It is rather a pipe dream designed to cajole and silence nations that are willing to sell out their national dignity and keep their peoples under perpetual strategic risk in return for some financial and military aid from Washington. Needless to say, such conditional aid has no strategic value whatsoever and is worth nothing.

An example of this Arab fiasco (and stupidity) in this regard is the recent huge arms deal between Saudi Arabia and the US. Soon, sixty billion Dollars of Muslims money will be converted to rust, and will contribute a zero percent to enhancing the Muslims' overall security vis-à-vis Israel.

This is because most dictatorial Arab dynasties are more answerable to their American protectors than to their own peoples. Hence, these despots don't just buy weapons from the US, they have to buy weapon or else lose the status of America's "valuable ally" which really spells "valuable puppet" than ally!!!

The fourth fact is that the US and other Western powers knowingly and deliberately enabled Israel to possess nuclear weapons. Hence, the claim that these powers would shield these regimes and their peoples from a possible Zionist aggression is even more of a pipe dream, especially given the fact that the US and other western governments are themselves subservient to Israel and Zionist power. In the final analyses, the American political whores in Washington can not and will not disobey the Israeli or Jewish pimps' orders. They know they would commit political suicide at home if they did.

Fortunately, some Muslim countries in the region have understood the timeless maxim that if you don't protect yourself, none will protect you. The same countries have also understood that unless you create a sort of mutual assured destruction vis-à-vis your enemy, you will be savaged, humiliated and bullied.

Unfortunately, larger and richer Arab countries have failed to understand what Pakistan and India understood. Instead, these mostly authoritarian regimes have opted to remain in a state of whore-pimp subservience vis-à-vis Washington, which we all know is ruled by the Jewish lobby. Didn't Ariel Sharon say "We rule America, and the stupid Americans know it?"

There is no doubt that Arab states from Mauritania to Bahrain will remain in a state of strategic inferiority vis-à-vis Israel as long as they don't possess a real nuclear deterrent that would make Israel give up some of its insolence, arrogance of power and hubris.

In short, Israel wouldn't dare drop one or two nuclear bombs on Cairo, or even threaten to do so, if it knew that one or two nuclear bombs would be dropped on Tel Aviv or Haifa soon after any possible nuclear aggression against any Arab or Muslim capital. Isn't this the real, deep-seated reason behind the frantic Israeli campaign against the alleged nuclearization of Iran?

It is always undesirable to indulge in macabre calculations, especially with regard to the nefarious nuclear weapons.

However, Israel's Nazi-like behavior must have convinced us to always expect the unthinkable from Israel.

A few years ago, Israel dropped between 2-3 million cluster bomblets on Lebanon, enough to kill or maim 2-3 million children. Then the whore-like leaders of the so-called "Free world" reacted to this barbaric monstrosity rather cynically, saying that "Israel had the right to defend itself" as if Lebanon, a country that would have contented with a banana-republic status had it not been for recurrent Israeli aggressions, posed a real threat to nuclear-armed Israel, which also held America and other Western countries by the throat.

Similarly, the Israeli air-force rained white Phosphorus on Gaza nearly two years ago, affronting us with scenes that could have been borrowed from Dresden and other German cities reduced to smithereens by the air forces of the allies in the closing months of WWII.

This is why, my advice to the premier Arab states in this region is:

Eat sand, eat grass, eat shit!! Let the bread queues be ten-miles long. But get the bomb! Don’t be the laughingstock of the world.

Don't let a shitty state like Israel destroy the Islamic civilization.

This call has been translated from French. Low analogous substantive amendments were necessary for the flow of reading.Until the existence of a newly formulated this call is to serve as a "blueprint". Criticism, suggestions, insults and praise we hold out. This action is not cemented and claimed no right to absolute accuracy. She is a living process, its participants to embellish. But one thing is after 2 years of "business as usual" for sure! Just as now it can not go on! Profiteers of the crisis to the checkout! No more dumping wages and towards a sustainable future development. If we do not want to subject in the near future, nor the last of life in the economization of the capital, we now have to resist! This is to be used by this non-violent, peaceful, open protest for as many citizens. Citizens as well as many in Europe with the condition of these lifted political and economic caste no longer agree.

Stop Bank is a call for Europe-wide massive deduction of funds from banks and the closing of savings accounts.

The campaign stop Banque in France has been 13,100 participants, and expects further 57,000.
This is the first spontaneous action group in order to protect them from media and political corruption and liberate us from the slavery that was imposed on us by big business.

Our action is legal, peaceful, secular, non political and non-unionized.

We do this because obviously nothing more demonstrations benefit because the elite are not listening anyway and the real power lies in the hands of international banks and corporations.

December withdraw money from the masses of our banks!

"They are just great because we are on our knees."

Give this message continues:

We are the legitimate people and the sovereign of this nation. We have few resources. No army, no police, no violence, ... IS THIS THE END UNJUST SYSTEM AVAILABLE!

We are aware that we are in crisis with high unemployment, and that the majority employs pure angst, and the feeling spreads makes no "means" to have to change something. FALSCH! WRONG! This approach is especially of protest which suffer most from access to this development. But often do not have time to get involved.

Small brooks make great rivers!

We need to build as much pressure to make politicians realize that their power still exists today only because we tolerate it and "trust" them. But we can also change the rules!

If this action takes place together and solid, so that we can bring our lifted elites tremble.

A question that often arises is: "What are we if we have no money what would have to stand still, or if someone has no bank account?"

Here is a proposal for a standard letter for those who are exposed or have a bank account. Sends or brings on 7 December of this letter to one or more Bankenfiliallen over.

And those who stop to decide the funding of their own slavery, this letter should end the withdrawal of their money given as a farewell letter to her clerks.

I hereby would like to make them understand that "we" know what you are doing with our money.

As we have known for some time that their "bosses" influence the world politics by funds controlled only from a capitalist Interresse out and common goods thereby fall corruption and speculation to the victims, I would like to express hereby to disagree with their society damaging policy.

I can not participate in this spontaneous and peaceful civil action, unfortunately you to withdraw my funds. Nevertheless, some citizens have decided today by the withdrawal of the cash, the closing of its current and savings accounts in their "bank" to take their destiny into their own hands now. Because we know you are the henchmen of the stateless and selfish elite.

This first act in the individual will perhaps be insignificant, but it will increase.

I hope as a citizen, that currency no longer in private "control" are, but will revert to the sovereign.

So now we begin to know the full extent of what Tony Blair called the blood price. A detainee tortured with live electrical wires here, children shot by US troops at a checkpoint there, insurgents using children to carry out suicide bombings somewhere else; on and on, through 391,832 documents. At the Pentagon, these messages were the day-to-day commonplaces of staff inboxes; for Iraqis, they detail, in the emotionless jargon of the US military, nothing less than the hacking open of a nation's veins.

Today, seven and a half years on from the order to invade, the largest leak in history has shown, far more than has been hitherto known, just what was unleashed by that declaration of war. The Iraqi security services tortured hundreds, and the US military watched, noted and emailed, but rarely intervened. A US helicopter gunship crew were ordered to shoot insurgents trying to surrender. A doctor sold al-Qa'ida a list of female patients with learning difficulties so they could be duped into being suicide bombers. A private US company, which made millions of dollars from the outsourcing of security duties, killed civilians. And the Americans, who have always claimed never to count civilian deaths, were in fact secretly logging them. At a conservative estimate, the new documents add at least 15,000 to the war's death toll.

Hunderds of thousands of people from around Europe have marched across European cities in a protest against spending cuts by some EU governments.

Close to half a million demonstrators have taken to the streets in France to protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposed pension reforms. The French government is too weak to bear the people's pressure and demonstrations and he will have no choice but to step down power

Nicholas Sarkozy's compliance with Washington and the Israeli lobby will come at the expense of his presidency.

Spain has held a general strike, with protesters in Barcelona clashing with police and torching a police car.

Other protests against austerity measures have been held in Greece, Italy, the Irish Republic and Latvia.

Trade unions say EU workers may become the biggest victims of a financial

crisis set off by bankers and traders.

Banks to blame

"We didn't cause this crisis. The bill has to be paid by banks, not by workers,"

Workers in many EU countries are frustrated that they are paying for the mistakes of the banks and the financial sector

There should be very little doubt as to the direction toward which Israel is moving. Some Israeli cabinet ministers have already declared openlyand in broad daylight that Israel is becoming a fascist state. Well since when was Israel not a fascist state? Hasn't Israel been always a state based on ethnic cleansing, land theft and mass lies?

Last week, the Israeli government approved a bill obliging non-Jews aspiring to obtain the Israeli citizenship to give allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state.

Moreover, the Israeli security forces have been making drills to test their ability to control riots in case the state carries out large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Arab community, which constitutes nearly one fourth of the population.

Meanwhile, Israel is making almost daily warnings against regional Muslim states such as Iran. Israeli officials have also tacitly warned Turkey that Israel and its long Masonic tentacles might incite the traditionally anti-Islam Turkish army to carry out a coup against the democratically-elected government.!!

As to Egypt, Zionist circles in the West are already giving funds and covert political support to Coptic separatists who would want to create a Coptic Christian theocracy in Egypt and "end the Arab occupation" by expelling and/or annihilating some 75 million Muslims back to Arabia!!

So, Zionist hands are working everywhere to mutilate the Muslim Middle East. This is happening while some obsequious and primitive Arab regimes are extending invitations to the certified war criminal Shimon Peres to visit their countries. This is really lamentable as the Zionist regime is systematically destroying Arab homes in Jerusalem while our so-called kings and presidents-for-life are responding to Zionist insolence by inviting the criminals to their capitals.

Unfortunately, real conspiracies are being hatched while the corrupt and decadent Egyptian regime is busy tightening the siege on Gaza and arresting members of the Muslim Brothers in order to please and appease Washington and obtain a certificate of good conduct from international Zionism, the ultimate antithesis and enemy of Islam and Muslims.

Some of the stupid Arab regimes in the region think erroneously that stable relations with the United States would guarantee nonaggression from Israel. However, this thinking is naïve and dangerous because Washington is the junior and subservient partner in the Israeli-American alliance. In the final analysis, the Israeli lobbies control American politics and American policies. Moreover, most American politicians, including 99% of senators and congressmen and women effectively work as little whores for Tel Aviv. This is what the elderly American journalist Helen Thomas meant when she said recently that "You can't criticize Israel and survive politically in America."

This means that whatever Israel does or may do in the Middle East, even if it carries out an unprovoked nuclear aggression against another regional state, Washington would react characteristically, uttering some flimsy and meaningless words, like saying "we call on both sides to exercise restraint." What else can we count on a country that makes no distinction between political whoredom and international politics, a country that is willing to murder millions and destroy nations in order to serve its whimsical strategic interests, which it has done and is continuing to do in many places around the world.

Israel is being armed to the teeth, with conventional and non-conventional weapons. Needless to say, the main purpose of this unending military aggrandizement is to subjugate the Arab-Islamic region to Jewish Nazism.

The main Muslim states in the region do have the ability to counter Zionist hegemony and aggression. The problem with some of states, however, is that their military capabilities are not used to counter Israeli hegemony and megalomania but rather to perpetuate autocracies and dynastic dictatorships.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been quoted as saying that Turkey, Iran and Pakistan have a common future. This statement should give some hope to progressive Muslim elements who have a strategic outlook towards the future of this area, where hundreds of millions of Muslims and non-Muslims live, mostly in the shadow of Israel's nuclear arsenal.

Ordinary Muslims in places like Cairo, Damascus and Tehran understand the horror of living with the specter of Israeli nuclear weapons. However, the scandalous thing is that our so-called leaders seem completely out of touch with reality by thinking that their respective states are immune from a possible Zionist holocaust. After all, Israel's nuclear warheads are not directed toward Rome or Athens or even Berlin; they are trained toward Cairo, Damascus and Tehran or probably Beirut and Amman although some regimes in these countries are quite docile and capitulationist.

I am not being phobic and alarmist. During the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, Israel contemplated the use of nuclear weapons against both Egypt and Syria after the Egyptian forces succeeded in overrunning the Bar Lev fortifications. Hence, the possibility of using nuclear weapons by Israel against Muslim states is not as unthinkable as many so-called experts might think.

There are those who might be prompted to think that the US would prevent Israel from embarking on such a fateful act. Again, this is stupid strategic thinking because a country's ultimate survival must never hedge on uncertain and precarious calculations. In the final analysis, the US is a little whore that is tightly controlled by the Jewish lobbies. Didn't Sharon tell Shimon Peres that "We control America and the stupid Americans know it?"

In addition, it is already amply clear that Israel is moving menacingly toward Jewish Nazism. This means that Israel's nuclear arsenal will soon be under the control and at the disposal of Nazi-minded Israeli leaders such as Avigdor Lieberman, and a long list of other Talmudic politicians who think that the annihilation of non-Jews, whose lives have no sanctity in the eyes of the Lord would be a fulfillment of the Lord's will.!!

Of course, Muslims can always shield themselves from a prospective Israeli holocaust or genocide. But everything has a price and the price Muslims, states and peoples, would have to pay in this case is their dignity, sovereignty and freedom. In other words, Muslims, states and peoples, would have to surrender completely to the sages of Zionism and come to terms with their enslavement and servitude vis-à-vis a Nazi Israel that differs very little from the Aryan Third Reich.

We who live under the Israeli occupation know what it means to live under Israeli enslavement. One day, while waiting in a long queue at a checkpoint near Hebron, Israeli soldiers ganged up on a young man because he was smiling. The commanding officer told the young Palestinians: "Don't you know that you are not supposed to smile or laugh and that you should remain sad and depressive-looking?" You see, even a smile was viewed as threat to their security. Did the Nazis behave similarly?

Finally, it is more than clear that Israel doesn't want peace. Israel, which has the ultimate protection of the United States and Europe, has had more than 60 years to make peace, but instead of making peace, it has been busy stealing Arab land, building colonies, and teaching religious students in Yeshivot or religious schools that non-Jews are only human in the outer shape and that they are animals in their very essence.

With its growing global power, and virtual control over the United States, Israel is likely to show off more manifestations of its Nazi nature. And Israel will not give a damn about goy criticisms? Didn't the Israeli foreign minister Lieberman tell the visiting foreign ministers of Franc and Spain in no unmistakable language to "shut up and mind your own business first before preaching to Israel?"

The next time Lieberman or Yeshai might ask foreign dignitaries to obtain a "kashrute" or certificate of purity from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef before they could shake hands with them!!

“Non-Jews were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world-only to serve the People of Israel.”

Major rabbi says non-Jews are donkeys, created to serve Jews

A major Jewish religious figure in Israel has likened non-Jews to donkeys and beasts of burden, saying the main reason for their very existence is to serve Jews.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual mentor of the religious fundamentalist party, Shas, which represents Middle Eastern Jews, reportedly said during a Sabbath homily earlier this week that “the sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews.”

Yosef is considered a major religious leader in Israel who enjoys the allegiance of hundreds of thousands of followers.

Shas is a chief coalition partner in the current Israeli government, Yosef, also a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, was quoted by the right-wing newspaper, the Jerusalem Post, as saying that the basic function of a goy, a derogatory word for a gentile, was to serve Jews.

“Non-Jews were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world-only to serve the People of Israel,” Yosef said in his weekly Saturday night sermon which was devoted to laws regarding actions non-Jews are permitted to perform on the Sabbath.

Yosef also reportedly said that the lives of non-Jews in Israel are preserved by God in order to prevent losses to Jews.

Yosef, widely considered a prominent Torah sage and authority on the interpretation of Talmud, a basic Jewish scripture, held a comparison between animals of burden and non-Jews.

“In Israel, death has no dominion over them…With gentiles, it will be like any person-They need to die, but God will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money.

“This is his servant…That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew.”

Yosef further elucidated his ideas about the servitude of gentiles to Jews, asking “why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap; and we will sit like an effendi and eat.”

“That is why gentiles were created.”

The concept of gentiles being infra-human beings or quasi-animals is well-established in Orthodox Judaism.

Faced with the negative effect of certain Biblical and Talmudic teachings on inter-religious relations, some Christian leaders in Europe have called on the Jewish religious establishment to reform the traditional Halacha perceptions of non-Jews.

However, while the Reform and Conservative sects of Judaism, have related positively to such calls, most Orthodox Jews have totally rejected the calls, arguing that the Bible is God’s word which can’t be altered under any circumstances.

The Bible says that non-Jews living under Jewish rule must serve as “water carriers and wood hewers” for the master race.

In Joshua (9:27), we read ” That day, Joshua made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the Lord at the Place the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this days.”

Elsewhere in the Bible, Israelites are strongly urged to treat “strangers living in your midst” humanely “because you yourselves were strangers in Egypt.”

The bottom line answer is that the "war on terror" is about creating real terrorists. The US government desperately needs real terrorists in order to justify its expansion of its wars against Muslim countries and to keep the American people sufficiently fearful that they continue to accept the police state that provides "security from terrorists," but not from the government that has discarded civil liberties.

The US government creates terrorists by invading Muslim countries, wrecking infrastructure and killing vast numbers of civilians. The US also creates terrorists by installing puppet governments to rule over Muslims and by using the puppet governments to murder and persecute citizens as is occurring on a vast scale in Pakistan today.

Let us be very clear about the impact of the coming massive Quantitative Easing (QEII) by the FED, the financial bully of Wall Street. It is the unleashing of a financial nuclear weapon!

The financial media is portraying this process as "a war of survival" between America and the rest of the world. This is a war waged by Wall Street. Its main instrument is a Global Ponzi Scheme.

If the American people is hoodwinked into believing the financial media, which justifies the use of "financial WMDs" against America and the world, the consequences will be catastrophic and the American economy and people will be devastated. Moreover, for the 1% of the financial elites, about half will survive, consolidate their control and form new global alliances. This is already taking place, as highlighted in my recent article.

Will the American people rise to the occasion and hunt down the fraudsters on Wall Street, the US Congress and the puppet masters behind the shadow money-lending system. In this regard, I am not optimistic. The present mass movement - the Tea Party constitutes a significant diversion from the main issues that need to be addressed. The American people seem to be unaware that they have been plundered by their very own political leaders acting in concert with the global financial elites on Wall Street.

In the same way that the American people were dragged into invading Afghanistan and Iraq on the promise of victory (Bush’s Mission Accomplished), Wall Street will do likewise in launching this unprecedented financial war on the promise that they will come out the victors!

The propaganda has already commenced. The Financial Times, one of the leading mouth-pieces of the financial establishment has declared victory even before the launch of the first WMD. To quote Martin Wolf:

“To put it bluntly, the US wants to inflate the rest of the world, while the latter is trying to deflate the US. The US must win, since it has infinite ammunition: there is no limit to the dollars the Federal Reserve can create. What need to be discussed are the terms of the world’s surrender”.

Wall Street´s Utmost Arrogance. Why?

The US has “unlimited nuclear weapons” enough to destroy the entire planet. When Russia and China did not have nuclear weapons, the US dared unleash two nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima to blackmail the rest of the world to toe the line.

But, China declared that “nuclear weapons are paper tigers” and “America is a paper tiger”. However, during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, when the US and its allies had so much military superiority, they did not have the guts to unleash a regional nuclear war, or a global nuclear war!

And as they say, the rest is history.

As a declining military power, the US is left with nothing but bully tactics – the constant threat that “all options are on the table”. And this is echoed by its regional bullies – the UK, Japan and Israel against Iran, North Korea, Syria and Lebanon.

It is in the same way that the threat of Quantitative Easing (QEII) by the FED and Wall Street – their so-called unlimited financial WMDs.

to borrow Bush’s words, “Bring Them On!”

This is so typical of a bully who has run out of ammunition and is using sheer arrogance to intimidate.

The Flaw In the QEII Grand Strategy

The first fundamental flaw in this grand strategy is the false assumption that because the dollar is the global reserve currency, the FED has the capacity to increase the amount of dollars in an unlimited fashion.

The second fundamental flaw is that (and notwithstanding the fact since 2007, the rest of the world has started to take measures to decouple from the US) the rest of the world would still look towards the USA as the ultimate market for their exports.

The third fundamental flaw is that the rest of the world would still be willing to accept "toilet paper Federal Reserve Notes" (printed or digital) as legal tender.

The financial generals planning this war must be in some "wonderland" to base their entire war plans on the above three fundamental assumptions. How stupid and out of touch can they get?

For starters, the USA is no longer a BUYERS’ MARKET i.e. the US is no longer in a position to dictate the terms regarding the purchase of its imports.

American consumers are drowning in debt. The financial institutions that were supporting their insatiable appetite for loans are all insolvent and cannot continue giving easy money to the consumers to indulge in their fantasies. And adding insult to injury, expect the sellers in these depressed conditions to be paid in toilet paper Federal Reserve Notes. We are not watching Comedy Hour. This is the reality show!

In the near and short term, the sellers (exporting nations) will suffer acute pain but, in the last two years regional trade has already begun to offset the drag from exports to the US.

But the near term pain of exporting nations pale in comparison to the trauma and mental anguish by Americans going to Wal-Mart and other Hypermarket retailers and not even finding the cheap goods that they were so used to purchasing.

A shift in trading patterns could potentially result in "empty shelves" in stores across America. There are over 40 million Americans on food stamps. Attached to this time bomb, is another another potentially explosive process: an impoverished and disillusioned middle class.

Moreover, within the realm of international trade, there will be growing barter trade, especially in commodities and one of the first commodities to be de-dollarised will be crude oil, the mighty crude which since 1973, has been the main pillar propping up the dollar.

If the Saudis had not succumbed to Kissinger’s blackmail, the dollar could have collapsed as a reserve currency a long time ago. Oil producing countries (with perhaps the exception of Saudi Arabia) could well enter into bilateral trade agreements (including barter) to sell crude in any currency other than the dollar.

The rescue of the 33 unfortunate Chilean miners has definitely turn into an international media event. All aspects of the rescue have been carefully staged to make the entire thing a spectacular show inspiring emotions, admiration and national pride. For those knowledgeable of Masonic and occult symbolism, it is hard not to ponder on the numerological and symbolic facts of the event.

One of the things I like to say, because history has proven it over and over is, ‘when the tables are turned the same people are still sitting there’. The names may change and the faces may change but they are the same people, which is the definition of an empty suit.

The reason the same people are sitting there is because they are financed by the same people who financed their predecessors. This is the reason that all governments are corrupted into the same bent system, whether it is composed of an original establishment, or the reformers who followed it, or some gaggle of revolutionaries who took power through the inevitable unrest, caused by extreme inequities, that eventually hit the middle class.

It all comes back to the banks. It is the banks who finance every change in the governments and who pull the strings from behind the scenes. David Rockefeller is a good example of this and so is the Rothschild Satanic Dynasty. Apparently the Rothschilds keep an empty chair and a place setting at their dining table for their horned master.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during his visit to Pakistan, has declared that the US administration supports "terrorism."

Erdogan touched on Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine Turkish human rights activists on May 31 and condemned the US "double standards," noting that Washington openly "supported the Israeli state terrorism," despite its claims that it supports peace, Turkey's Milliyet newspaper reported on Saturday.

"The nine Turkish martyrs were shot by 21 bullets fired by Israeli soldiers. We sent the autopsy reports and pictures to the US and the EU, but the US was not ready to condemn the state terrorism," Erdogan said.

"This demonstrated the US support for an international terrorist that had killed our nationals in international waters," he stated.

Erdogan also noted that both Turkey and Pakistan has suffered much from "military dictators" that were backed by the US.

But we also know that the US administration was behind the terrorist attack of 9/11. Once again we see how openly the US support terrorism and is the terrorist himself......

The leaders of the United States are destroying the dollar but hypocritically accusing China of currency manipulation, a US accounting expert says.

“The Chinese leaders are representing the interests of China. They should be. And, by contrast, we have American leaders who are destroying the dollar,” Paul Sheldon Foote, a professor of accounting at California State University, Fullerton.

Washington has been pressuring China over the yuan, saying Beijing is deliberately keeping the value of its currency low to help its exporters at the expense of other countries.

And the US Treasury Department plans to issue a report in which Beijing could be declared a currency manipulator.

Ahead of an easing of about “half a trillion to a trillion and a half dollars” by the US Federal Reserve, Prof. Foote said that “if we are going to have quantitative easing on November 3, the day after the election, and print money of no worth, and destroy the value of the dollar, I cannot imagine a worse manipulation in the world of any currency than what the American example is.”

In addition to the fact that the US currency continues to decline in value, the United States is also facing a growing deficit and rising unemployment.

Cancer is a man-made disease fuelled by the excesses of modern life, a study of ancient remains has found. Tumours were rare until recent times when pollution and poor diet became issues, the review of mummies, fossils and classical literature found. A greater understanding of its origins could lead to treatments for the disease, which claims more than 150,000 lives a year in the UK.

Coca-Cola spends $2.8 billion a year in advertising to make sure its soda is seen as the most iconic American drink -- a beverage enjoyed around the world, virtual peace-building in a bottle. The company has spent 124 years polishing its image, but it took author Michael Blanding only 300 pages to tarnish that gleam. In his new book, The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink, Blanding details the sordid history of the company, from patent medicine experiment to multinational behemoth.

Former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney says a strongly-financed lobby throughout the world has helped Israel violate international law.

"The status that Israel enjoys is the result of a very well-financed lobby that protects the interests of Israel," McKinney said in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.

The problem of Israel knowing itself exempt from international law has not only affected the United States, but also the international community and the United Nations, she further explained.

"Look at what happened with Judge [Richard] Goldstone when he wrote a report that just told the truth about what Israel did with respect to Operation Cast Lead," she noted.

The Israeli operation on Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009 resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians and inflicted over $1.6 billion of damage on the Gaza Strip's economy.

The UN report, also known as the 'Goldstone Report,' said Israel's crimes included deliberate targeting civilians. It also highlighted the Israeli forces' "systematically reckless" way of determining the use of white phosphorus in built-up areas, notably in the attack on the UN Relief and Works Agency compound in Gaza City as well as two Gaza-based hospitals.

McKinney also referred to Israel's attack on the humanitarian aid Flotilla, which took place as the convoy was attempting to bring aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. She emphasized that Tel Aviv, in defiance of the international condemnation of the assault, claims that its actions were legal.

McKinney's remarks came following former White House correspondent Helen Thomas' statement that no one in the United States can criticize Israel and survive.

Thomas was forced to resign in June after calling on Israel to "get out of Palestine."

A neutrino telescope that makes use of thick Antarctic ice and a giant balloon is unexpectedly detecting mysterious, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) is a radio wave detector mounted on a giant balloon at an altitude of 38 kilometres. It is designed to detect the radio waves produced when a high-energy cosmic neutrino smashes into the thick ice below.

But although ANITA has yet to capture this signature, it has found another kind of particle: ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. These are protons and other charged nuclei that zoom in from space with mysteriously high energies.

At first, unexpected patterns of radio waves seen by ANITA were dismissed as noise. Then Eric Grashorn of Ohio State University in Columbus and colleagues noted that some of these radio waves had a similar pattern in their distribution of frequencies.

In what Grashorn calls a "serendipitous discovery", his team has worked out that these signals are generated by speeding electrons produced when cosmic rays collide with molecules in the air. These electrons spiral through Earth's magnetic field, emitting radio waves as they do so.

"They have actually found a new way to detect high-energy cosmic rays," says Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Halzen is a collaborator on IceCube, a giant neutrino telescope buried in the Antarctic ice.

So far, ANITA has captured the signature of 16 ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. With the ability to scan a vast area, the balloon telescope could one day rival the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina, which was built specifically to detect cosmic rays. Halzen reckons that ANITA's cosmic ray detections could end up being as important as its original neutrino mission.

The Institute of International Finance, a group that represents 420 of the world's largest banks and finance houses, has issued yet another call for a one-world global currency, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports. "A core group of the world's leading economies need to come together and hammer out an understanding," Charles Dallara, the Institute of International Finance's managing director, told the Financial Times.

An IIF policy letter authored by Dallara and dated Oct. 4 made clear that global currency coordination was needed, in the group's view, to prevent a looming currency war.

'Michio goes cuckoo and says you are a terrorist if you are against the NWO. He claims that the NWO is Type 1 attainment on the Kardashev scale. He also spews the false "alien gospel" to set the public up for the coming fake disclosure of the grigori as " Type 2 greys". Type 3 is obviously God and His angels, but what will the illuminati say they are?
To see why you have been conditioned to accept a certain image of 'grey aliens' before they have even arrived, observe antediluvian depictions of the grigori/watchers- Google Image: dogu or wandjina (Note his constant referencing to sci-fi junk that Hollywood has been cramming into the heads of the sleeping sheep in order to condition them for the staged disclosure event.)'

Egypt's National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has imposed new restrictions aimed at tightening control over the SMS messaging services provided by mobile phone companies and media institutions in an apparent effort to preempt possible anti-regime activism in the run-up to next month's parliamentary elections.

The CEO of one messaging service provider, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that the NTRA had in recent weeks met with officials of the three mobile phone companies operating in Egypt--along with state security services--to inform them of the new regulations. He also said that special "controllers" had been mandated with monitoring text messages disseminated by the MB and by opposition youth movements.

SMS service providers based overseas, meanwhile, will be prohibited from offering the service in Egypt.

Some observers believe the new regulations aim to hinder the logistical capabilities of Egypt's political opposition, which has come to depend on SMS messaging to mobilize supporters for public protests and demonstrations. Over the course of the last year, both Internet and mobile-phone technologies proved central to efforts by Mohamed ElBaradei, a would-be independent presidential candidate, to collect millions of signatures in support of political reform.

International and local media watchdogs, meanwhile, have voiced concerns about what they see as diminishing press freedoms in Egypt following the dismissal of Al-Dostour Chief Editor--and vocal critic of the government--Ibrahim Eissa last week. And in early October, Egyptian authorities closed down Salafi-affiliated satellite television channel Al-Badr for allegedly inciting sectarian hatred.

What's more, authorities late last month closed the studios belonging to the Saudi-owned Orbit satellite television network, which had broadcast a popular political talk show--"Cairo Today"--hosted by Amr Adeeb, who is also known for openly criticizing senior Egyptian officials. Information Minister Anas al-Fiqqi, however, said the cancellation of the program had "no political dimension" and had only been due to to the network's failure to pay its bills.

According to government statistics, mobile phones constitute the fastest-growing means of communication in Egypt. In December of last year, the total number of Egyptian mobile-phone subscribers stood at 55.35 million, representing a 34-percent year-on-year increase.

The total number of Internet users in Egypt, meanwhile, has also increased markedly, from 14.9 million in mid-2009 to a current 19.7 million, according to figures released by the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

The Lifeline 5 convoy lead by former MP George Galloway is geared to move out from the Latakia port in Syria to the Egyptian Al Arish port.

The convoy’s supervisors expect Egyptian authorities to decide later on today whether they will allow the convoy to dock at the Al Arish port before crossing over to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid.

Egypt had previously banned the convoy because of a deportation ruling against George Galloway sometime back. Efforts have been made to push the Egyptian government to let the fleet transit through the country.Lifeline 5 spokesman Zahir Beirawi said Sunday that the ship’s cargo of humanitarian aid has been packed and is fully ready to set sail.

He said the convoy has included 140 buses. He confirmed earlier on Saturday that all information requested by the Egyptian government has been submitted to the Egyptian embassy in Damascus, which has promised to make a timely response to their appeal.

Despite an overwhelming optimistic atmosphere after a meeting between the Egyptian ambassador and the convoy’s leaders, Beirawi said he is concerned Egyptian authorities will delay giving the convoy the green light.

He said if the request was rejected, widespread frustration could erupt among the international activists, and an atmosphere of conflict may rise between Lifeline members and Egypt.

The convoy consists of 140 buses loaded with 5 million pounds Sterling (45.000.000 EGP) worth of medical equipment, educational supplies, and food. On board are 385 activists from 30 countries, who include a large number of politicians, trade union leaders, and charitable organization officials.

The Israeli Zionist ministers have endorsed a bill which obliges non-Semitic people to promise loyalty to Israel as "a Jewish and democratic state."(by other words: to worship Satan !)

The proposal, condemned by an Israeli minister as "fascist," was approved 22-8 on Sunday, AFP reported, citing a statement by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

If accepted by Knesset (the Israeli Zionist parliament), it would make the oath imperative on the non-Jewry, who wish to become an Israeli citizen.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog said the bill carried a "whiff of fascism."

Israel fabricated its existence in 1948 during the Six-Day War against the Arab world, forcing 711,000 Palestinians to leave their homeland. Estimates made in 2008 put the number of the refugees at over 4.6 million.

In 1967, Tel Aviv went on to annex the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The move is considered illegal under international laws.

Tel Aviv has alleged exclusive right to the occupied Palestinian territories for its Zionist Jewish population, many of whom it brought in from abroad following the war. Analysts denounce the so-called claim as "racist" for denying the native Palestinians' territorial rights and in clash with Israel's claim to observe "democratic" standards.

Palestine is belligerently occupied. Threats continue against Iran and Syria as well as Lebanon, specifically Hezbollah, elected partner in the nation's unity government, bogusly designated a US State Department Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), what Israel also calls it, repeating veiled and overt warnings, suggesting violence or an impending attack.

Why not, after so many earlier in 1978, 1982, 1993, 1996, and 2006. Also numerous incidents besides:

-- refusing to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 425 by occupying South Lebanon belligerently and illegally for 18 years until mostly, but not entirely, withdrawing in May 2000 - still holding Sheba Farms, the 14-square mile water-rich land near Syria's Golan, also illegally occupied since 1967; in addition, Ghajar, the Lebanese village bordering Golan;

-- during its occupation, using a proxy Christian South Lebanon Army as enforcer, UNIFIL Blue Helmets giving them and the IDF free reign instead of maintaining peace, how UN forces always operate, as paramilitaries against people they're supposed to protect; and

-- for over 40 years, repeatedly violating Lebanon's territory, often daily, including 12 Israeli jet overflights on August 19.

Hezbollah - Israel's Pretext for Incursions, Violence and War

Hezbollah was born out of Israel's 1982 Lebanon invasion, its horrific war slaughtering around 18,000 people, mostly civilians, including in the Sabra and Shatila camps, what journalist Robert Fisk called "one of the most shocking war crimes of the 20th century."

In 1999, it was put on the FTO list, removed after condemning the 9/11 attack, then added back by Dick Cheney after bogusly linking it with Al Qaeda.

Throughout his tenure, George Bush (and other administration officials) called Hezbollah, Iran and Syria "the root cause" of Middle East terrorism, despite Israel being the only threat, a notorious regional menace.

In mid-July 2010, Rep. Sue Myrick (R. NC) was over the top accusing the organization of being a threat on the US-Mexican border, saying:

"Our intelligence sources have really clarified that they are in Mexico, that there is an operation that is quite large in place there, and it's very frightening to me because this is national security. We know some of them have gotten across the border in the past....They are starting to target the United States and that's my concern."

Hezbollah, in fact, is politically legitimate, former Lebanon President Emile Lahood calling it "an integral part of the Lebanese government....(also) part of our military (and) social order," what former Prime Minister Rafik Harriri confirmed. It's also a social, charitable, educational, and medical organization, involved in establishing over 50 hospitals, over 100 schools, many libraries, and providing other essential social services, why it has broad support, especially among Shiites, comprising over 35% of Lebanon's population.

In addition, its military wing is for defense, not belligerency, but it's prepared to respond effectively when attacked, what Israel learned painfully in the 2006 war, outfoxed and humiliated despite a vastly superior force. It's a lesson the IDF never forgot and wants to avenge, as well as conceal its own terrorist history, by far the region's most extensive with tentacles reaching globally.

An early 2007 American University of Beirut study documented 6,672 Israeli terrorist acts against Lebanon and Palestine alone from 1967 - 2007 (plus thousands more since then), unrewarded by inclusion on America's FTO list, Israeli influence getting others on it, including Hezbollah and Hamas, Palestine's legitimate government.

Without evidence, Hezbollah's rap sheet includes the 1983 US Lebanon Embassy and Marine barracks bombings, highjackings, hostage taking, rocket attacks against Israel, suicide bombings, and more, charges the organization vehemently denies, saying it responds only in self-defense against militants, not civilians, its leader Hassan Nasrallah stating:

"Hezbollah remains on the US and Israel 'terrorism' list for purely political reasons and to punish the organization for its resistance to Israeli aggressions against Lebanon and (America's) plans for the region."

Expecting its members to be charged with assassinating former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005, he accused Israel of the crime, presenting visual and audio material as evidence. They included Israeli surveillance footage (intercepted in real time) of routes he used to be able to target his motorcade, Nasrallah saying:

"We have definite information on the aerial movements of the Israeli enemy the day Hariri was murdered. Hours before....an Israeli drone was surveying the Sidon-Beirut-Junieh coastline as warplanes were flying over Beirut. This video can be acquired by any investigative commission to ensure it is correct. We are sure of this evidence, or else we would not risk showing it."

He also said an Israeli spy "confess(ed) in front of a camera that he had repeatedly tried to falsely convince Hariri that (Hezbollah) intended to assassinate him." Though not a smoking gun, this information warrants serious investigation, especially given Israel's history of similar acts, inside and outside the region.

According to Lebanese University Professor Hasan Jouni, an international criminal law expert, Nasrallah's evidence was exceptional, saying:

"Logically and legally, in this stage, any new finding should be investigated by the general prosecutor. Sayyed Nasrallah submitted tangible evidence of the Israeli potential role in Hariri's assassination." It appears incriminating. "Furthermore, the previous investigations which were circulated here and there should be revised."

In late July, Nasrallah further disclosed the arrest of nearly 100 Israeli spies who'd infiltrated Lebanon's military and security sectors, including Ret. Army Brig. General Fayez Karam, once head of its antiterrorism/counterespionage units.

In his recent article titled, "Israel Takes Control of Lebanon," investigative journalist Wayne Madsen covered the same issue, saying:

He's "learned from (his) Lebanese intelligence sources that the Lebanese government is coming to realize that Israeli intelligence penetration of all political groups in the country is worse than originally believed."

"The Israeli espionage network also extends to Syria. Lebanese sources report that former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, who accused Syrian President Bashar al Assad of ordering (Hariri's) assassination, is tactically backed by Israel and the United States." He heads the National Salvation Front (NSF) effort to oust Assad, getting Israeli, American, French and German help to do it.

For decades, the US/Israeli partnership ruthlessly pursued its joint regional imperial project, including assassinations, state terrorism and wars. Murdering Hariri indeed furthered their goal, and if an August 28 Press TV report is right, more is planned, the Iranian English language network saying:

"Israel is reportedly preparing to strike arms depots and weapons manufacturing plants in Syria, claiming they belong to....Hezbollah....Tel Aviv (having) escalated its military presence in" Golan and Lebanon's Shebba Farms, according Haaretz, "citing a report in the (August 28) edition of the Kuwaiti daily Al Rai. (It) quoted European sources as saying that recent Israeli reconnaissance flights (over) Lebanese and Syrian airspace, are indications that Israel is ready to start a war in the area (against) targets....far inside Syrian territory...."

Targeting Lebanon - Stoking Tensions, Threatening More War

In early 2010, Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned Hezbollah to "avoid entering conflict with us, (adding that) We need to constantly prepare for a change in the status quo, though we don't know when it will occur. We don't want for it to happen, and it might not, but we will not be afraid to react if we have to fight back."

Thinly veiled fighting words with July 23 elaboration, provocatively telling the Washington Post that Israel will hold the Lebanese government responsible for Hezbollah's actions, saying "we will see it as legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just to the Hezbollah" - the same 2006 blitzkrieg strategy causing vast destruction, billions in damage, killing over 1,000, injuring thousands more, and displacing one-fourth of Lebanon's four million population, the vast majority being civilians, including 300,000 children, Israel's "Dahiya Doctrine" strategy.

Named after the Beirut suburb destroyed in 2006, it's how past and future wars will be fought, including Cast Lead, applying disproportionate force against civilians and non-military infrastructure, carried out with overwhelming intimidating force in violation of fundamental international law, prohibiting collective punishment and attacks against non-combatants, Israel's preferred targets.

On a mid-April US visit, Jordan's King Abdullah II expressed concern, telling a "Congressional Friends of Jordan Caucus" that he fears "imminent" conflict again with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

At the same time, AFP reported that Washington "voiced alarm" about Syria's "possible sale of Scud missiles to Hezbollah militants, warning it would put Lebanon at 'significant risk.' " On April 13, Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of doing it, saying it "claims it wants peace while at the same time it delivers Scuds to Hezbollah whose only goal is to threaten the state of Israel" - false and Peres knows it.

In response, an unnamed US official said a sale was suspected but not verified. Syria flatly denies it, and unmentioned was American aid to Israel, more than to all other nations combined, including annual billions of dollars in military aid, additional amounts when requested, plus the latest weapons and technology, enough to destabilize the entire region and beyond, given Israel's capacity and inclination to wage war aggressively and illegally.

It's bloodstained history confirms what US major media reports suppress - that no outside threat or attack on its territory occurred since the October 1973 Yom Kippur war, nearly 37 years ago after which Israel repeatedly attacked Lebanon and Occupied Palestine. It also menaces the entire Middle East, its goal being to divide, conquer and control it, a future article dealing solely with that topic.

At the end of the 2006 Lebanon war, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 called for a full cessation of hostilities on both sides, specifically that Hezbollah cease "all attacks" and disarm, Israel given freedom to respond to perceived threats. In other words, it can claim bogus ones justify war, Hezbollah denied comparable discretion.

Since passage, Hezbollah refused to disarm, but committed no aggressive acts. For its part, Israel breaches the resolution daily, including regular airspace, territorial, and sea encroachments. In early 2010, Michael Williams, UN special envoy to Lebanon said:

"To the best of my knowledge, there is probably no other country in the world which is subject to such an intrusive regime of aerial surveillance," other intrusions and spying. In fact, none besides America, Israel's paymaster/partner and early mentor, both countries the world's most bellicose and aggressive, what Hezbollah understands and will respond.

Lebanon's government also, saying it supports its right to defend sovereign state territory, Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami calling Israel a "permanent menace" with good reason.

Further, Syria said it will act if Lebanon is attacked, adding it considers a threat to Beirut's security one to its own. Hamas' Ali Baraka also avowed to back Hezbollah if attacked, stoking more tension, what Israel's expert at exploiting, manufacturing threats when none exist.

On August 2, the George Soros-funded International Crisis Group published a report titled "Drums of War: Israel and the 'Axis of Resistance,' " saying:

More war, if it comes, will be "far more devastating and broader in scope," the regional dynamics dangerously explosive, so any "miscalculations" may launch it, including against Syria.

Despite a deceptive quiet, "Beneath the surface, tensions are mounting with no obvious safety valve." Hezbollah's readiness and "escalating Israeli threats (could) trigger the very outcome" so far avoided.

With "no effective forum for communication, (there's) ample room for misunderstanding and misperception. Meanwhile, (Israel has waged) an underground war of espionage and assassinations....now a substitute for more open confrontation."

"There is scant reason for optimism on the peace front," not helped by America talking only with one side (Israel), "keeping another at arm's length (Syria), ignoring a third (Hezbollah) and confronting the fourth (Iran)."

As a result, "the world should cross its fingers that fear of a catastrophic conflict will continue to be reason enough for the parties not to provoke one."

Not explained is that Israel and America alone pose threats, the same ones for over 40 years, what all regional states know and fear, hoping they won't end up like Iraq - destroyed by imperial lawlessness, the fake August 19 "combat" troop pullout just PR cover for permanent occupation, or as one Iraqi official said: "This is about America's midterm elections," Washington's presence is here to stay, even Newsweek calling it a "nonevent," saying:

"The departure of the last 'combat troops' from Iraq (more a strategic retreat than victory lap) is hardly the end of American combat there. (What about the other) 50,000....staying behind? They didn't exactly send their (formidable weapons arsenal) out with that Stryker brigade. And they're not going to transform themselves into the Peace Corp overnight," or, in fact, ever.

The region's strategic importance assures permanent war, America's presence, and continued danger for everyone there - cursed, not benefitting from oil.

A Final Comment

Besides bordering on Israel, Lebanon's resources make it vulnerable, namely its water and natural gas reserves, one reason for the 2006 war, South Lebanon to the Litani River especially important. Also the Wazzini springs feeding into the Hasbani River tributary of the Jordan River. It flows into Israel two miles downstream from the Wazzini, then into the Sea of Galilee that's Israel's largest fresh water source.

Israel covets the 20-mile stretch from its border to the Litani to use Lebanese water for its own needs, a considerable supply if controlled, besides what's gotten from Golan, seized from Syria in 1967 and still held.

The Tamar and Leviathan offshore natural gas fields are also key, located off Israel's north coast and Southern Lebanon. Tamar contains an estimated 8.5 trillion cubic feet supply, Leviathan another 16 trillion, and on August 29, Israel National News.com said it may hold four billion or more barrels of oil, making it a richer than ever prize.

The London-based Lebanese newspaper As-Safir said if Israel attempts to siphon gas from Lebanese waters, conflict could result. The paper's Israel affairs analyst, Hilmi Mousa, said Leviathan "lies mostly off Lebanese shores and in international waters between the sea border of Palestine (and Cyprus waters). However, Israel received a guarantee from Britain, which has no rights in Palestine, to search for oil in the area near the Lebanese shores. The map of deposits, as published in the Israeli economic papers, shows the scope of the deviation into Lebanon's international waters," ones Lebanon surely will protect.

Yet Mousa headlined, "Israel preparing to steal gas fields in Lebanon's waters," saying doing so "will quickly turn into a new conflict (in which) Lebanon....will defend its rights in the water." Other sites include Rut and Alon, also off Lebanese shores or in areas far from Israel. The situation bears watching given the possibility that Israel may attack Lebanon and Hezbollah, needing or inventing a pretext to do it, an old trick it may use again, Lebanon perhaps the next target.

The Hungarian village of Kolontar has been evacuated after new damage was discovered at a burst reservoir that spilled toxic sludge on Monday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it was "very likely" that an entire wall of the reservoir would collapse, releasing a fresh wave of chemical effluent.

Mr Orban also said there would be "very severe" consequences for those to blame for the disaster.

At least seven people have died as a result of the accident.

Around 150 people were injured by the spill of up to 700,000 cubic metres (24.7m cu ft) of red toxic sludge - many receiving burns.

Most of those killed were drowned or swept away in Kolontar as the sludge hit on Monday. The village is the closest to the reservoir, and would be expected to bear the brunt if there were a second spill.

On Saturday morning, about 800 residents were taken to a sports hall and two schools in Ajka, 8km (five miles) away.

Rescue team spokesperson Gyorgyi Tottos said the new damage to the northern wall of the reservoir was relatively minor, but villagers were evacuated as a precaution.

However the prime minister, in a press conference at the scene, painted a more serious picture.

"It's in very bad shape and our estimation is that the wall could fall down," he said. "It's very likely that it will happen... One consequence is that human lives could be in danger."

"Behind this tragedy some human errors and mistakes must exist. We will reveal all of that and the consequences will be very severe, tough, as much you can imagine," he added.

Mr Orban said another 500,000 cubic metres of waste could escape if the reservoir wall were breached again.

This would be heavier and thicker than the first spill, and would move slower - but would be even more toxic, says the BBC's Duncan Kennedy at the scene.

Besides those evacuated from Kolontar, police were also telling residents of the neighbouring village of Devecser to pack a single suitcase so they could leave quickly if necessary.

In the last few days, residents and emergency workers have worked round-the-clock to remove the worst of the sludge which damaged houses, streets and farmland, and polluted waterways.

All life in the Marcal river, which feeds the Danube, is said to have been extinguished.

The sludge reached the Danube on Thursday, but Hungarian officials said on Friday that the pH level in the river was "normal", easing fears that Europe's second longest river would be significantly polluted.

Emergency crews have been working to dilute the alkaline content of the spill, adding huge quantities of gypsum and chemical fertilisers to the waters of the Marcal and Raba rivers.

The disaster's confirmed death toll rose to seven on Friday, after an 81-year-old man died from injuries sustained in the torrent and two bodies were found on the outskirts of the village of Devecser.

The victims were likely to be two of three Kolontar residents still missing, disaster unit chief Tibor Dobson said.

The company responsible for the alumina plant, MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company, has offered its condolences to the families of the bereaved but insists it did nothing wrong.

It said it was devoting "all its energies and efforts" to tackling the spill, and had released 110,000 euros (£96,000) so far to help with the clean-up.